Jillian Pritchard
Instrument: Percussion
With the RPO since the 2000-2001 Season
My favorite time of year in Rochester is Fall - I love the crispness in the air. During the day I can still be outside without too many layers; at night I can get cozy inside. It’s a season with a lot of warmth and personality.
Hometown: Kendall, NY
What are you most likely to order at Java's: large non-fat latte and a health cookie.
When not performing with the RPO, you can find me running, biking, skiing, or cooking.
First music-related memory: One Christmas – I must have been 2 or 3 – I got a Fisher-Price percussion set. The little plastic drum also housed some little plastic maracas, a little plastic tambourine and little plastic sticks.
I decided to be a professional musician when I played the cymbal part to the “Superman March” at Area All-State, when I was in eighth grade.
Favorite travel destination: I have a few more places to see before I can answer that!
Influential teachers were: John Beck (Eastman School of Music); Michael Burritt (Northwestern University - now Eastman); Jim Ross (Chicago Symphony); Kristen Shiner McGuire (Nazareth College)
My favorite ice cream flavor is Peanut Butter Sundae.
What other orchestras have you performed with? Buffalo Philharmonic, Chautauqua Symphony, New World Symphony.
Oddest RPO concert memory: I forget the piece, but it was percussion heavy and called for a thundersheet. We have a particularly large sheet of metal that we use, so the stagehands had suspended it from the rigging above the stage. At halftime (intermission) a few of us were standing around joking that it would be hilarious if the thundersheet started rising as the piece went on. Sure enough, by the time we got to the end of the piece, Mac (John McNeill) was on his tiptoes trying to reach the sheet to play it!
Favorite restaurant in town: Pane Vino – the best Italian food in the city! Best Italian food out of the city – Joe’s Mendon House.
What types of music do you like to listen to? Classical – Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, John Adams and jazz – Dave Brubeck, Pat Metheny.
The RPO is essential to Rochester because it is one of the city’s premier cultural institutions.
My favorite part of working in the RPO is the sense of family. Yes, we may have our crazy uncle and the grouchy great aunt, but in the end it’s the personalities that make it fun. We love to play together.
If someone were visiting Rochester, what would you tell them to go see or do? Why, the RPO, of course! Then the George Eastman House, Strong Museum, and Letchworth State Park.
Biography
Jillian Pritchard has played with the RPO percussion section since the 2000-01 season. She regularly plays with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed with the New World Symphony and the Chautauqua Symphony. Pritchard currently serves on the percussion faculties of the Hochstein School of Music and Dance and Finger Lakes Community College and is a member of the RPO Marimba Band. She holds degrees from Northwestern University and the Eastman School of Music.
